The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was effectively dismantled after 55 years of operation when approximately 90 percent of its remaining workforce received layoff letters on Friday, May 2, 2025, NIOSH officials and laid-off employees told CBS News.

An initial round of layoffs on April 1 cut about two-thirds of the agency workforce — including NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard after a 22-year tenure — on the orders of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

Workers receiving notices May 2 are being put on leave until an official separation from service on July 2, according to HHS.

"It's been almost destroyed," Dr. Robert Harrison, who directs the Occupational Health Services at the University of California San Francisco, told National Public Radio (NPR).

Only a few pieces of the agency will remain, including the World Trade Center Health Program – at reduced staff levels.

The layoffs put a halt to work at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. This NIOSH division had been responsible for the only federal vetting of personal protective equipment -- testing, approving and certifying respiratory protection equipment such as N95 masks and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) used by firefighters and emergency personnel.

The laboratory's respirator approval program was in the middle of processing around 100 applications for respirators, one laid-off official told CBS News.

Work on identifying counterfeit respirators and issuing warnings has also ended due to the layoffs, officials told CBS News.

NIOSH is no longer responding to requests to conduct on-the-ground investigations of health hazards if there are reports of illness at a workplace or other emerging threats, according to NPR.

A NIOSH scientist told NPR that about 30 "health hazard evaluations" will never be completed because of the sudden layoffs.

Letters sent to NIOSH employees said action was taken to comply with President Trump's executive order to cut the federal workforce and HHS’s “broader strategy to improve its efficiency and effectiveness to make America healthier.”

In a post Saturday on X, the department said firefighter programs remained a top priority and as HHS continues to streamline operations, essential services provided by NIOSH will remain fully intact and uninterrupted.

NIOSH had approximately 2,400 staff members, researchers, and contractors, including employees in fields such as epidemiology, medicine, nursing, industrial hygiene, and safety. 

In FY 2024, NIOSH operated on a budget of $362.8 million. This was the same amount as in FY 2023

Philip Landrigan, an epidemiologist and occupational physician at Boston College, told NPR, “There's no way in the world that Mr. Kennedy's new agency is going to be able to protect workers' health after they've let 90% of the subject matter experts go.”